Companions of Loneliness
by SnowFox3
Summary: Time is always either fixed or in a state of flux. This particular moment, the tiniest of things in the universe, was in flux. And it was the most important moment for the Doctor. Short multi-chapter drabble. Set during Journey's End. TenRose hints.
1. Chapter 1

_**A/N**_

_Hey! Quick drabble I'd meant to post quite a while ago, and sort of... forgot about. So, popping in to let people know that Togas and Tealeaves has __not __been abandoned... it just needs to wait until I've finished the extraordinarily busy time of Grade 12. So, perhaps an update after the end of this term? I'll try for it. But know this: I promise, it will be completed. _

_Anyway, here's something I thought up after talking with a friend about the then-recent Journey's End episode. _

_Enjoy!_

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Time was one of those funny things that could be even more expansive than the universe itself. While the universe, the expansion of the cosmos, was always in a fixed, constant state, much like the nature of matter in it, time was only sometimes in a comparably fixed state.

Time could also be in a state of flux. As he'd once said, time was a ball... wibbly, wobbly... somewhat indescribable in the living languages of the universe because the concept of time as something that wasn't fixed was incomprehensible to the inhabitants of the universe. At least, all but him.

Time Lords knew. Gallifrey knew. Once upon a time, in an old gallifreyan lullaby, it was sung about. His language was the only language that fully comprehended the complexity of the shifting nuances of each strand, each invisible strand that connected the universe. These tiny strands... the shifting of the vortex itself, was far more important to the universe than the matter that was held within its grasp.

Or at least, that's what the Doctor was taught. And then the language was lost. Then the war came, and Gallifrey was nothing more than a memory, images flashing by in a mind that hated to remember them. Time-locked. A fixed point in time that could never be changed, erased, even touched. It was as out of sync from the rest of the universe as he'd become.

But he could still see time, and being a Time Lord, he could see it all. He was one of those brilliant beings, now the only one... that could see time for her infinite majesty... and as others had said, her infinite fury. He'd realised long ago that the fury of the Oncoming Storm could well be attributed to the fury of time. Unyielding. Unforgiving. Unstoppable.

Destructive.

And so, so lonely.

So it came as merely a passing shock when the Doctor saw the state of the future in front of him.

Time was always either in flux, or completely and utterly fixed.

This particular moment... this strand... was in a state of flux. In the Doctor's mind, the vortex revealed its secrets; not one strand, but two.

Time was in a state of flux, and there were two possible futures. Normally, there were far more than two options for the future. Either only one possible future, or numbers approaching infinite. Rarely two, but he'd seen so much in his relatively short lifetime that it didn't surprise him.

But this future though, it did surprise him, and it was because one thing _was _fixed; something he could see as clearly as he could see the DoctorDonna and the human Doctor in front of him, as clearly as he could see Rose Tyler silently watching him, as clearly as he could feel the humming presence of the TARDIS in his mind.

It was to be forever fixed that _he_, the Doctor, would decide and implement which future would occur.

To have a Time Lord, who was capable of seeing infinity, with the single capacity to change the future, and in such a big way, was almost wrong. Too much like a God... and for some, it would be terrifying. Others would hate this mortal... this mortal with the power of a God.

He would never consider it such though. This was Rose's future... his future... an entanglement of past and future culminating in this one, single decision he had to make – a decision that he knew he would not repeat to anyone or anything, for so long as he lived in the universe. It would later just become one more thing that he would not repeat... another of his secrets... another of his silences.

It would only become so though, when he made his decision.

Both futures glistened as the vortex glistened in his mind.

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_Next update will be tomorrow. When I get the chance to go online. This story has been complete – just sitting. Which is why I'm posting it now, so you guys'll know that I'm still around._

_Please, review! I love 'em!_

_~SnowFox3_


	2. Chapter 2

_**A/N**_

_Right, update, see?_

_Read on, lovely people!_

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"_Ah, fat lot of good this is! Back of beyond. Bloody Norway!"_ Jackie Tyler's voice, even though the Doctor had yet to leave the confines of the TARDIS, could be heard as if she was yelling in his ear._"I'm going to have to phone your father, he's on the nursery run,"_ he heard Jackie continue. He just had no luck with that lady. But it wasn't by choice that he'd come to Bad Wolf Bay – technically, it was the spot of least resistance; the place that the TARDIS could land relatively unharmed in this universe, because the gap was more prominent there. He didn't want the TARDIS to explode, after all.

He tuned out Jackie's small conversation with the human Doctor, and surveyed the area. He had no need to, really, because it was all engrained in his memory, so strong... another moment that should never have been.

And as such, creating more Moments Which Should Never Have Been. So he turned his gaze to Rose. Typical he would. He wanted so much to run to her, to hug her and never let go... but there was no way he could, no way because of another Moment Which Should Never Have Been.

"_Hold on, this is_ ... _the parallel universe, right?"_ Rose's voice sounded, a mixture of confusion and desperate vulnerability, and it reminded him suddenly of their first few trips together. Suddenly he could see flashes, exploding in his memory anew. Although he'd never been able to shut out Rose completely, he'd never done such a poor job. Rose laughing. Rose crying. Rose running, with him, running, running, just like they loved. Rose furious. Bad Wolf, Rose's majesty. Places, sights. Chips. Rose. Home was with Rose.

But for Rose, home was not with him.

He cut the thoughts out, furious with himself, because he was just dwelling, and he knew he couldn't dwell. _Home was not with him, not to her.._. _"You're back home,"_ he said to Rose, as gently as he could. He'd always been good at hiding himself, and now, again, he was doing it. Rose wouldn't know. She'd never find out.

Donna was helpful too: _"And the walls of the world are closing again, now that the Reality Bomb never happened. It's dimensional retroclosure. See, I really get that stuff now."_

She got the stuff, yeah, but the Doctor wished oh, so sincerely, that she didn't. What it meant... he would miss her.

But then he thought, suddenly, miraculously, that he could fix her. He was the Doctor! Of course he could fix her! Then he frowned, and glanced at the human doctor – would the human doctor be willing to make the sacrifice he was considering? In a moment, the psychic link connecting time lords opened his mind to the hybrid doctor.

A shared look between them, and a sense of great accomplishment: both knew that Donna was far more alive when presented with the universe, rather than the mundane existence she'd had before she'd met the doctor. Both knew, understood, and wanted more than anything to protect Donna, saviour of the universe. And his best mate.

The Doctor nodded in gratitude as the human doctor mumbled out a farewell to the people on the beach, and re-entered the TARDIS.

It was less than a moment that passed between the Doctor and his human copy. Not even a second had passed, not that it needed to.

Rose turned to stare at him, stunned after Donna's statement – the walls were closing again. _"No, but... " _she protested, "_I spent all that time trying to find you. I'm not going back now!"_

And, the Doctor thought, past misgivings disappearing in the blink of an eye, that was the best part – for him at least. "Well, you can stay if you want... we just needed to get her back home." He gestured to Rose's mother, then winked at Rose. "Else your mum'd kill me!"

"And I still will if you keep that up, Doctor!" was Jackie's irate, but somehow amused, reply.

"So..." Rose paused, brown eyes narrowed in thought. "So I can come with you... _I can come with you_?"

"We-e-ell... if you want!" the Doctor grinned. "Though I must inform you, I've been told that I'm quite lousy company!"

"Shut it, you dolt," Donna hit him. "Can't be that bad, with all this in your head!" She idly brushed her hair out of her eyes as the wind picked up. "Rose, please come! He's a right old misery most of the time!" Donna paused. "That was a tad contradictory, now wasn't it? That's you in my head, Doctor, half the stuff you spout _is _nonsense! And you can't deny that! Undeniable nonsense! Although," she allowed, "maybe it's not half. Maybe a third. Or a quarter."

The air was lightening. The Doctor could sense the _both _universes, and they felt brighter, softer, happier – or was that just him? He couldn't tell. Maybe him as well. But despite his growing happiness, he had to maintain an indignant front.

"Oi!" He'd never live it down if Donna caught him smiling at one of her patented insults. _Oooh, _she should patent them too! Later, though, later. After he'd fixed her up.

Jackie smiled gently at Rose. "Rose..." she held her arms out. "I've seen you, without 'im. And I've got someone now... and you should find someone too. If it's him... that's alright."

Brown eyes watered, and Rose quickly wiped the tears away. "Thanks mum!" She embraced her mother, for perhaps the last time.

Naturally, the Doctor mused, it was a long embrace.

But soon enough Jackie pulled out of the hug. "See ya round?"

Rose wiped another tear away, but was beaming all the same – she'd _done _it! She was going back! "Yeah, see ya around."

They were both terrible liars.

In a flurry of heartfelt goodbyes and swift movement, Donna entered the TARDIS, followed by Rose and the Doctor.

"Wait!" a voice stopped them. Rose peered back out of the TARDIS, the Doctor's head brushing through her blonde hair in his enthusiasm to peer out as well.

It was Jackie, and she was wearing a grin.

"I'll accept you, Doctor," she stated, as if it were the most important thing in the world. "After all... could've been worse!"

The TARDIS left the alternate universe upon the sound of ringing laughter.

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"Right!" Donna declared, "I was thinking we could go to Felspoon! Great name, Felspoon! It's got mountains, Rose, did'ya know? Mountains that sway in the breeze! Moving mountains!"

Rose smiled, but the Doctor could tell she was thinking of just how similar Donna sounded to him. And, as he glanced at the human doctor, who nodded tightly, had Rose been left behind, along with the human doctor... the Doctor wouldn't be able to save her.

"Felspoon? Sounds great! Keep forgetting 'bout good old Felspoon! With mountains that sway, and leaves that don't blow in the wind! Felspoon, felspoon... you're right, it _is _a great name! No, I'm right, you've got my brain, that's me speaking, sorry! No, wait, I'm not sorry..." he cast a helpless look at Rose. "Never mind that! Donna, Donna, Donna. You were fantastic."

"I know, right? And still am, you daft space hopper! Oh, you know, you can fix the chameleon circuit if you hotbinded the fragment-links and superseded the binary, binary, binary, binary, binary, binary, binary..." she took a deep breath, as Rose watched in concern. Donna waved her off. "I'm fine!"

"We-e-ell, you will be!" the human doctor spoke up. "'Cos you see, you can't have me in your head. A time lord and a human metacrisis can't happen. So we gotta get me outta there!" the hybrid time lord rapped her on the side of the head. "Be good to have more of me around, 'course it would, but to be honest," the human doctor made a face, "I need to get rid of the _you_ that's inside me. It's disgusting!"

"Oi!" Donna glared at him.

"Oi!" was her automatic reply, before the human doctor made another face. "You see? All rough and disgusting!"

"Oh, shut it," Rose told the copy of the doctor, amused. She turned to the Doctor. "He's just like you!"

"Yes," the Doctor agreed slowly. "He's too much like me. But there can't be anymore of me. The universe doesn't agree with it. So I had two choices: leave him in the parallel world..."

"Or," the human doctor put in, "Give me the right to decide. And someone here needs a doctor. Good thing I'm here, yeah?"

Donna sighed. "But I wanted to be like this forever, the DoctorDonna."

"You know what'd happen if I didn't do something," the human doctor replied gently, and grasped either side of her head. "Shhh, concentrate now, I know you know what I'm doing."

Donna frowned again, but acquiesced.

Rose nudged the Doctor as what looked like regeneration energy surrounded the two. "What's goin' on?"

The Doctor leant down, whispering, "A human can't have the brain of a time lord. She was burning. And the human doctor... he's made of her. She can't be fixed unless he gives up his form. So that's what he's doing."

"You mean... his life?" Rose gasped. "But, but, you can't let him! There has to be another way!"

"No. He's in this universe... but there's already a Doctor, me. There can't be two of us. The universe works in strange ways, Rose Tyler, and Time Lords knew that most of all. Rules were created based on the dangers of the time vortex. And one, though it hasn't happened until now... one was that two identical minds cannot coexist in the same timestream. It's just wrong, and the time vortex itself wouldn't accept it."

Rose's eyes widened, finally understanding, but she opened her mouth again as another thought came to her. "But you could've left him in the other universe, couldn't you? There's another reason why you let this happen."

The Doctor beamed at her. "I really did miss you, Rose Tyler, always knowing when something's off!" He flopped down into the TARDIS seat. "I didn't stop him... because that's what..." he looked away. "That's what I would've wanted to do. To save Donna. It's the least I could do."

Rose sat down next to him, and they watched silently as golden energy surged up and shifted between Donna and the human Doctor. Slowly, slowly, the energy began to disperse, and so did the human Doctor's form.

It was here that the Doctor jumped up. "Oops, almost forgot! The energy, naturally, reverts to its last known physical appearance! Gotta get a container!"

Rose laughed, a delighted laugh that made the Doctor feel light and bubbly. "Does that mean you're gonna get your hand back?" she called after him.

"Oh, _yes_!" the Doctor yelled back. "My handy hand!"

Moments later, the Doctor was back, and the golden energy had fully disappeared, leaving only an unconscious form of Donna, and the Doctor's hand. The Doctor reverently placed his old hand into the container, which – Rose found to her amusement – it was almost identical to the one it had been in previously, right down to the liquid inside that would keep the hand healthy.

"Oh, my head..." a groan came from the ground. "What've you done to me this time, you stupid alien?"

Rose snorted. "Oh, I really like you, Donna!"

Donna sat up shakily. "I didn't realise it'd hurt _that_ much, Doctor! But... it's gone... it worked." She sounded slightly disappointed.

Until she looked at the container. "Oh, for the love of... where'd you get that container? It's exactly the same as that other one! What, d'you have a habit of lobbing off limbs and storing them away?"

"Hey!" the Doctor complained. "Bigger on the inside, remember?" He pouted, and muttered softly, "Got all sorts of things in here!"

Unfortunately, Donna hadn't heard his last muttered sentence, and she was still only half conscious. So, naturally, she –

"You are _not_ bigger on the inside! You're a thin stick of a man! You're not even a stick! You're like a twig! A really skinny twig! There's nothin' there!"

Rose howled with laughter as the Doctor sputtered denials, trying to explain to Donna what he'd meant. And, _naturally_, failing miserably.

"No, you stupid scrawny pretty-boy! I _don't_ want you to prove it!"

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_And please let me know your thoughts, you'll make my day! Next update... in about a day's time. Or thereabouts._

_~SnowFox3_


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